In the past few weeks Kenya’s new education system, the Competency-Based Curriculum, has been a subject of scrutiny and bashing from parents across the country.
Most Kenyan parents want the new system scrapped off and the 8-4-4 education system to be reintroduced in the schools. According to parents, the new curriculum model is expensive and time-consuming on their part.
As parents want the CBC abolished, students should be at the forefront defending it. This is because the education system benefits them more than they could imagine.
CBC comes with a flexible structure and affordability to the student. As its name suggests, the program focuses on the development of competencies applicable to a student’s career path.
CBC focuses on what a student learns and not on the time spent he or she spends in a classroom to complete his/her credits. This allows students to approach their work at their own pace to demonstrate skills in the competencies necessary for their career choices.
In this article, we are going to focus on the key benefits of CBC for students including its flexibility among others.
Affordable
As many parents complain that the cost of CBC is high, in the real sense it’s affordable. The cost of this program varies from one institution to the other as well as the student’s choice of interest.
Many institutions use the program to strategically increase learning and to lower education costs. The tuition fee depends on the time the student will complete his/her education. The faster the student progresses through the learning material, the less expensive the program is.
Engaging
One of the strongest results of this program is increased student engagement. This is because students have ownership over the learning material.
Students are empowered since they have control over when, where, and how they want to learn. The program also promotes individualized learning and accommodates various learning styles making it a personalized experience for the students. This increases experience since the content is tailored to each student and is more relevant to their interests.
Flexible
A competency-based program is very flexible since its structure depends on an individual learner. There is no fixed schedule in CBC, no set classes nor semesters. Instead, students have control of their learning, when and where they wish to complete their assignments and projects.
This program is also flexible in the sense that it allows learners to enter a program at any given level where they are given credit for previous experience.
The program focuses on skills
One of the key benefits of CBC is that learning is centered on real-world skills and competency development. The program revolves around skills needed for a particular career.
The program makes sure that students are workplace-ready and have expertise in their chosen fields. CBC gives students a direct path to a successful career.
Students proceed at their own pace
The focus of this program is the final results and not the learning process. This allows students to take charge of the pace of their learning. As soon as a student feels he or she has mastered a skill, they can take an assessment, get credit and proceed to the next learning material.
